Bragging Rights
by PaBurke
Summary: Dean Winchester, Ash, Oz and Lex Luthor - bonus for Penelope Garcia - On computers, university and recruitment schemes


**Bragging Rights**

Summary: Prompt: Dean Winchester, Ash, Oz and Lex Luthor - bonus for Penelope Garcia - On computers, university and recruitment schemes  
Yay for troublesome genius dropouts with crappy home lives!

For litaofjupiter, Merry Christmas

*spn*btvs*sv*cm*

Lex stood in the circle of computer technicians and looked at his wrist watch. At 2:02am, Lex nodded setting off a flurry of motion from his underlings. Lex stalked from one end of the computer room to the other gathering intelligence. The annual Luthor hacking race was one of his favorite corporate events. Especially since he had written some of the code they were trying to hack.

"One thousand nine hundred and three applications," his manager reported.

Lex waved him off. "It doesn't matter. They have to get through the first level of encryption before I start counting…"

"Sir," the technician at the end table announced, "Someone's cracked the first level."

Lex was intrigued. He stepped behind the technician to witness the unknown hacker's attempts. He saw what the technician did not. He pointed at the monitor, "Two person team. They work well together. Back track them, I want a job offer to them in the mail by six am."

"Yes sir." The technician hit a few keys. "They appear to physically be in the Dakota/Wyoming territory."

"Address," Lex demanded.

"Sir," another technician called. "I have someone that just breached the first level of encryption." He looked confused. "They either are hacking from the FBI or are routing their hacking through a boosted signal."

Lex watched that hacker at work and quickly came to a conclusion. "That's Garcia keeping her hand in. Don't bother tracing her address, she's not interested in a job. I'm not surprised that she's in the top ten, she's won the prize several times."

"Holy…" A technician trailed off when he realized everyone was staring. "Someone breached the second level, sir. I don't have any record of them breaching the first though."

"Interesting." Lex stepped over to watch. He could identify this hacker by his code as well. "It's DAMB."

"Damb?" the technician echoed the internet handle.

Lex smiled wryly. "A source told me that it was an acronym for a high school band name, which doesn't narrow down the search much. He or she is always among the top ten when she plays. Still haven't gotten a job offer to him yet. They hack from all over the world. You find him and I'll double your salary."

"Yes, sir."

A technician waved to Lex. "Three MIT students and a Cal Tech student have breached the first level."

Lex nodded. "Find names and send out job offers." The technician understood, after all, he had been hired for the exact same reason.

"The partners have breached the second level," someone reported.

"Address," Lex barked.

"Still working on it."

"Garcia breached the second level and there appears to be a second hacker at the FBI that just breached the first level."

"Name?"

"Lynch, sir, Kevin Lynch."

Lex considered it. "Arrange for a meeting with him. He'll be useful here or there. A face-to-face will be required to analyze the proper approach."

"I'm forwarding the information to your personal assistant."

"The partners…"

Every computer screen of the room went dark and all knew what the hackers had accomplished. The partners had hacked to the prize. It was nothing more than bragging rights of being the first, but it had added perks.

"Address," Lex demanded.

"Sorry sir," the technician was contrite. "They were hacking out of a bar, called the Roadhouse."

"Send the information to my investigators; they'll take care of it."

"Of course, Mr. Luthor."

"Mr. Luthor," his manager called out. He was standing next to the technician who had been tracing DAMB.

"Any luck?" Lex would have been surprised if he had.

"No, but DAMB left you this message."

Lex read the screen, 'Happy Birthday, Lex.'

Lex's lips twisted into an almost smile. "Happy Birthday to me," he murmured.

*spn*btvs*sv*cm*


End file.
